How I Broke My Own Rules
by MintLollipop01
Summary: <html><head></head>Bella and Emmett are best friends who are murder detectives that work for the FBI. When a particularly hard case comes their way, they will both get more involved than they originally planned. Note Edward shows up eventually. Rated M for that reason.BPO</html>
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay, so this is my first time submitting to FF, though I have been an avid reader and I have been writing for some time. A few little notes: Bella is an FBI detective and is trying to solve a murder investigation. She is kinda out of character, but then again, she's not a detective in Twilight. Edward will come in eventually, be patient. Also, there will be sex, but it will gradually get there, people! As long as you stay with the story, I will keep writing. And even if you don't I will keep posting (hopefully) because I am not going to be one of those people who withhold a chapter because there weren't enough reviews. Honestly, I am hoping for one review, and I don't care if it is good or bad. So without further ado, happy reading and please, please, please review. Even if it is just a happy face or a sad face or "love" or "hate". Thanks! :)**

I was at the gym after work getting my thoughts straightened out in the ring in addition to practicing my self defense and such. My opponent was a guy- one of the few guys who would fight a girl, named Mike. Mike was fast, but I was faster. I dodged his hits, getting into his unprotected areas and beating him down. After he hit the mat for the fourth time, he groaned.

"Can we stop?" Mike asked.

"Fine. I should probably get home anyway." I said, hopping out of the ring. I took three steps away, towards the locker room before he asked. At least he waited one step longer than he did a few days ago.

"Hey, do you want to go get drinks tonight?" he asked eagerly. He always asked.

I sighed. "Mike, I don't think that would be a good idea."

"Why not?"

"Because you ask every time I see you and I am being very careful not to say yes and lead you on."

I saw his hopeful face droop. If I had any heart, I might humor him, but the thing I hate doing is leading guys on.

"Look, Mike, I really just want to be friends."

"And friends can get drinks." He said.

"Yes, but knowing your history, it wouldn't be just drinks." I said. Mike was also a notorious player and while I hadn't had sex in a while, I knew that sex was never just sex. There was always emotions and reasons behind it and they would always come back and bite you in the butt one day.

"Sorry Mike, but I think that our relationship should be purely in the ring."

"Okay." He sounded like a dejected child. "See you on Wednesday?"

"Six o'clock." I said, turning around and walking to the door to the ladies locker room.

As I showered, and dressed, I thought about the case that I had just solved with my partner Emmett Mcarthy. There had been a homicide of an entire family over money by a guy named Ian Walter. I mentally thanked my stars for aligning the correct way so that I had a fairly large salary and was never really desperate for money. I was well off, and I could potentially quick working in a few years and be good for life. My salary was good because I was good at my job. Most of my cases never lasted more than a week or two at most. My partner was also good, too. We were a good team.

As I headed out to my car with my gym bag over my shoulder, my phone rang. I pulled it out of the pocket of my jeans as I unlocked my car and got in, throwing my gym bag into the passenger seat.

I looked at the caller I.D. to see that it was Emmett.

"Talk to me." I answered.

"We've got a case." Emmett said, his familiar voice excited.

"So soon?" I asked.

"Yes." He said, in mock disappointment. "Unfortunately crime does not follow a schedule. Get your ass over here."

"By here I am assuming that you mean the office?" I asked. In addition to being my partner, Emmett was also my best friend. It was actually amazing that we solved any cases at all, considering how much we joked around.

"No, the Statue of Liberty. Yes, the office! We can carpool."

"I'm leaving the gym right now. See you in ten." I said, shutting my phone before he said goodbye and driving over to the office. As I drove, I idly wondered why I was hearing the news of the case from Emmett second hand. Usually someone from the bureau would call me and fill me in. I figured that Emmett got the call first and then told them that I would be at the gym, so he would fill me in. Emmett and I were so competetive that he would, of course, want to just hear about the case before me, just to have the pleasure of filling me in.

As I pulled into my usual parking space next to Emmett's SUV, I saw it had its tail lights on. I unzipped my gym bag and sorted through my workout clothes and gloves until I felt my fingers hit the cool metal of my gun. I grabbed it, along with my badge and set of cuffs, then got out of the car.

I locked my car, then jogged around Emmett's SUV to the passenger side and peered in the window. Sure enough, he was there, doing something on his phone.

I opened the door, making him jump and look up. On a reflex, his hand moved to his gun which was strapped under his right arm, like it always was.

"Jesus, Bella." He said.

I grinned, then hopped up into the passenger seat and shut the door behind me.

"So what's the scoop?" I said, pulling my seat-belt around me and clicking it into place as Emmett backed out of his parking space, and turned around to leave the parking lot.

"The house cleaner for the Morris family went into the master bedroom to vaccum and she found the whole family dead."

"Cause of death?"

"Bullet wounds to the head and chest."

"Damn. Poor cleaning lady. She's gonna need therapy."

"Oh, you bet. Unfortunately for her, she's also an illegal immigrant. She'll be deported after the investigation. Also, apparently there are some pretty impressive blood splatters."

I made a face.

"I know you don't like the blood, but at least it's dry."

"Yuuuck." I said, drawing the word out. Emmett grinned.

"That sounds like another word that some people groan out."

"Oh, fuck off, Mcarthy. You need to grow up and get a girlfriend."

"I don't do girlfriends."

"So I've noticed. What was your last one nighter's name?"

"Hell if I know."

"You are such a player."

"Yup."

We drove in silence for a while.

"So where were you when I called?" He asked.

"The gym. I beat Mike again."

"Poor guy."

"You and Mike are so much alike with women."

Emmett laughed.

"I take it that he asked you out again."

"Yeah. I'm starting to feel kinda bad, you know, I beat him up, then I turn him down."

"You are hard on guys, Bells."

"You know I don't do one night stands. And I don't like Mike that way. I mean, if I say 'no' enough, he'll eventually get the point, right?"

"I don't know, Bells. He seems to be a persistent little bugger."

I laughed and turned my gun over in my hands. This was my favorite gun - its' size worked best for me and I got my best shot with it. It was also small enough that it was easy to hide on my smaller frame.

"Where the hell am I gonna put this?" I asked myself aloud.

"Put it in your bra." Emmett said, grinning.

"You wish." I said, laughing. "I'll just put it in my waistband."

I was wearing a plain navy long sleeved shirt, jeans and a pair of my favorite sneakers. I hadn't been exactly prepared for an investigation.

"Make sure the safety's on." Emmett said. I predicted what he would say next before he said it. "We don't want anyone to shoot a hole through the leg of their pants."

"Hey!" I exclaimed indignantly, "That was one time. And I promised Deputy Director Aro that it would never happen again."

"It better not, he threatened to take your gun away."

"How did that even happen?" I wondered aloud.

"Don't ask me. I don't know how you did that and got away with only a hole in your pants."

"I liked those pants."

"I'm sure you prefer having your entire leg."

"Yeah."

The car turned into a driveway. While we talked, I hadn't really been paying attention to where we were going. Now I saw that we were in a wealthy neighborhood with huge, fancy houses.

The driveway wound on for about a quarter of a mile until we drove up to a huge house painted light blue. The CSU's were already there, searching all around the house.

Emmett parked and we got out of the car quickly. We were met by a cop who had a face that looked too gentle for someone from law enforcement.

"You must be Detective Swan and Detective Mcarthy." The cop said.

"Yes, m'am." Emmett answered, turning his charm on her.

"Chief Weber." The woman said. "Follow me. I was told to bring you up to the scene the moment you got here."

She turned on her heel and walked into the house, ignoring the others in the forensic team who were fingerprinting a broken window and checking the ground for other clues.

"The maid said that she walked in and they were here. They were supposed to go on vacation to Maui yesterday, though the forensic team said they've been dead for two days, so that gives time. So far there has been a painting stolen, though there is probably more. Only the maid knows what exactly goes where and she is too traumatized to talk right now." Chief Weber said, leading us up a flight of stairs. I could tell from the differences in the color of the wood that there had previously been a rug there.

Emmett seemed to have read my mind.

"Where's the rug?" He asked.

"We don't know. It was gone when we came."

Already I was cataloging information in my head, making connections.

Chief Weber led us to an open door that had familiar yellow caution tape stretched across it. She ducked under it and Emmett and I followed.

There were the bodies, all right. There was a small girl and boy who were holding onto their mother's hands still. It made a lump rise in my throat. The father was closer to the door, as if he had fallen first. The blood splatters were awful, going everywhere; on the floors, on the walls, on the bed. I shrieked and leaned my face into Emmett's huge chest. It wasn't something I could control; it was a reflex. I felt Emmett's chest shake and heard his chuckle.

"Shut up." I said, removing my head from his chest, trying to get my head back on straight. This wasn't the first time I had reacted this way at a nasty crime scene. Emmett liked to make fun of the fact.

I looked at the scene again for a moment, then walked over to a place by the dresser and said, "Here. The killer was standing here. I faced where the bodies had fallen and where the shots were on them, trying to not think of them as recently living people.

"The killer was around six feet to six foot three." Emmett said just as I reached that conclusion. I threw him a look.

"How can you tell that?" Chief Weber asked.

"The placement of the bullet shot, along with the lack of blood and the angle of the place where the killer was standing, in addition to where he was standing and where the victims were before the died. The man stumbled two steps to the right, then fell - you can see the blood drips. The mother was killed before the children, and then the girl, then the boy last. The killer was merciful, he didn't torture or prolong the deaths, though they did have to watch their family die. They died quickly too." I answered for Emmett, trying to out-do him.

Chief Weber looked amazed.

"Do you agree?" Emmett asked.

Chief Weber looked at the scene, squinting her eyes for a moment, then she nodded.

"Yes, that was very clear and it matches the evidence. Now we just need to figure out the who and the why."

I looked around, at the dresser. There was a small pile of books there, one of which had a drop of blood that was smeared on the cover. I looked through it. Tucked about halfway through The Time Traveler's Wife, there was a small slip of paper. I took the paper out, then handed the book to Chief Weber, who put it carefully in an evidence bag.

I carefully unfolded the paper and read it once in my head.

"Maybe we won't need to find the who." I said, showing the slip to Emmett.

"Dear FBI, Cops, etc. I am proud to say that you found this note. Unfortunately, you won't know what the hell to do with it. I can tell that you found the big mess I made by the fact that you're reading this. There will be more messes to come. -E. "

"Who the hell is E?" I asked.

Emmett shrugged.

**A/N: Okay, so I'm sorry that this chapter has no closure, but I would post the entire story that I have right now if I didn't stop here. I will post again in 3 days, I promise. I have part of the rest of the story already written, so I will be posting more soon! But until then, please review, I really want to know what you think. I need to know if you like it for me to keep post the next chapter. Just put a :) or :( or :| face. Seriously, I can understand emoticons :)  
>See you in 3 days. <strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I know that at the end of the last chapter I had said that I was going to update in 3 days. I lied. I know, I know, it was a bad thing to do, but I've been sick recently and not really in the mood to get outta bed. I hope you forgive me and enjoy this chapter. Also, thanks so much for all of the reviews I got. This is the first story I've put online so it was a great feeling to know that someone had read it. Multiple someones, actually. So thank you to all of you who read and review and I hope you do again. :) **

"I don't know, but whoever they are, they want to get known as the murderer." Weber said.

I nodded.

"Let's get this to the forensic team." Chief Weber said. She held out an evidence bag and I put the slip of paper in.

Emmett and I looked around the crime scene for a while more until we finally concurred that there was no more that would give us any hint to who 'E' was. Around midnight, we decided there was nothing more for us to find in our sleep deprived state, and we left the crime scene.

On the way home, Emmett and I discussed E. So far, all we really knew was that he was cocky - cocky enough to leave a note for the FBI. The drive was about a half hour long, and it was 12:30 when we got back to our city.

"Can I stay at your place?" I asked Emmett, yawning.

"Sure."

It was something we'd done before - staying over at each other's houses. I knew that there were some partnerships within the FBI where the partners hardly talked to each other, but Emmett and I weren't like that. I was glad that we were best friends.

Though I knew that Emmett had many girlfriends, well not necessarily girlfriends, but girl toys.

We had always been clear with each other that we were not interested in each other in that way. He had never once made a remark that would suggest he seriously wanted to get me in bed. He did joke around about stuff like bras, but that was just Emmett. We had even shared a bed a few times, just because we were watching a movie and we both fell asleep. There was no inclination towards sex anywhere in our relationship and though some people who knew Emmett's player status may be skeptical that he didn't want to get me in bed, I trusted Emmett with my life.

"Bella?" Someone was shaking my shoulder.

I blinked sleepily.

"Emmett?"

"Come on, we're at my place. You fell asleep on the ride home from the crime scene after asking if you could stay over. I would have carried you inside, but the last time I did, you punched me in the face."

I unbuckled my seat belt and hopped out of the car, removing my gun from my waist band just to be safe. The last time Emmett had picked me up when I was asleep, I had punched him in the face. I had been half asleep and I felt someone picking me up. I thought that I was being kidnapped or something. It was the type of paranoia that came with working for the FBI.

I followed Emmett into the lobby, then up the stairs. His apartment was on the second floor, so it seemed silly to take the elevator for such a short time, though I was suddenly so tired that I had to stop halfway up the stairs. Emmett noticed me stop and he came back to me, sighed, then picked me up bridal style. I didn't resist.

"Thanks." I said, nodding into his chest.

"No problem."

He carried me the rest of the way to his apartment. I was barely aware of him setting me down on his bed and I fell back onto the pillows.

Something cloth was tossed over my face all of a sudden, and I sat up, surprised.

Emmett was grinning at me.

"I'll let you change while I'm in the bathroom."

I looked at the cloth thing in my hands and found it was one of Emmett's shirts. I quickly changed, shedding everything but my underwear and pulling the shirt over my head. Emmett was so huge that his shirt went down to my knees. I climbed into his bed, pulling one of the pillows under my head.

I heard the bathroom door open and Emmett said, "Should I sleep on the couch?"

I patted the bed beside me, fighting to keep consciousness.

I felt Emmett move my hand and then he climbed under the covers. We weren't touching, but I felt close to him.

I quickly fell asleep.

In my dream, I was standing by while a hooded figure pointed a gun at two small children and fired. As the children fell, I called out.

"Bella." Emmett said, shaking me. I heard someone sobbing, then I realized that it was me.

"I'm sorry, it's just those kids." I blubbered.

Emmett pulled me into his chest and he stroked my hair.

"I know, honey, I know."

He let me cry, just stroking my hair and holding me until I calmed down and fell asleep in his arms.

When I woke up, there was light coming in through Emmett's window. Emmett's large, muscled arm was around me and I felt safe.

I sat there for a while until I decided to tickle Emmett. This was one of the few things that I could do physically to make Emmett vulnerable. Carefully, cautiously, I reached my hand to Emmett's ribs.

Quick as a wink, Emmett had moved so he was over me, and I was staring into his wide, very much awake face.

"Shit." I said.

He smiled and I saw his dimples until I felt his hand ghost down to my ribs.

"Don't -" I was cut off by him tickling me and I was overcome by a fit of loud giggles that sounded very unlike me.

Emmett tickled me until my stomach ached from laughing.

"Please," I gasped out finally, giving in. He would never stop until I begged.

He tickled me a while longer, then he rolled over and moved his hand from my ribs.

I panted to get my breath back and he chuckled.

"That'll teach you to mess with me." He said, and I laughed.

"What time is it?" I asked him.

He glanced over at the clock that was on his side of the bed, on the bedside table.

"Seven. We should probably get going, we haven't finished the paperwork from the Walter case."

"Okay. Can we stop by my house before going to the office? I want to change and grab a few things." I said.

"Sure."

Emmett sighed, then got out of bed. He was only in a pair of checked boxers.

He walked over to his closet and disappeared inside. I heard the rustle of fabric, then I got out of bed and pulled my jeans and t-shirt from yesterday on, leaving Emmett's oversized t-shirt on his bed.

"I'll start the coffee." I said towards the vicinity of the closet.

"'Kay." I heard Emmett say from the closet.

I walked over to his small kitchen and found the coffee. Emmett and I always had to get coffee before going to the office because the office coffee tasted like water and took hours to make.

I started on the coffee, then looked in Emmett's fridge for something to eat. There was a takeout box with a chinese character on it, a six pack of beer, a tub of cream cheese, butter, and some uncooked ground beef. I was unsurprised by the lack of food that Emmett had; he rarely ate in, preferring to eat over at my apartment or go out. Emmett and I rarely spent a meal apart, though Emmett usually went to a bar after our dinners to meet some girl and I would go home to read and mill about my apartment.

I heard Emmett's footsteps and turned around.

"Hey." I greeted him.

He was wearing a sports coat, a blue v-neck t-shirt, jeans, and the same shoes he always wore. The shoes were fancy enough to go to meetings in, but comfortable enough that he could chase after criminals and such. Emmett never really dressed up, only wearing the sports coat because it was required. It was easier for me to dress.

"Hey, sorry that I have no food."

"It's fine. We can grab something from my place."

Emmett walked back to the bookshelf and moved aside some books until he found his gun, hidden in a cavity in the wall. My gun was there as well.

"Here." He said, handing me my gun.

"Thanks."

The coffee maker beeped, telling us that the coffee was ready. I opened the cabinet above the sink and stretched up on my tip-toes, trying to reach the cups. My fingers barely grazed the handle.

Emmett chuckled.

"I'll get it, short stuff."

I glared at him because of the short stuff comment, but moved so that he could reach the cup.

He didn't even have to stretch to reach.

I huffed and he chuckled and poured the coffee into two mugs.

"Ready?" He asked.

"Yup." I checked that the safety was still turned on on my gun, then slipped it back into my waistband and grabbed my phone and badge from where I had put them on the counter in my sleepy haze last night.

Emmett led the way out of the apartment taking big sips of coffee to keep it from spilling out the sides. I drank a large gulp of mine, then followed him, instantly jazzed by the caffeine. Emmett and I took our coffee the blackest black because it allowed us to stay awake longer. Last night was the first full night of sleep that I had gotten in a few days, because of the case. While working on cases, Emmett and I rarely slept for longer than was necessary for us to keep functioning. We just got so involved that our brains would work and work and work while we pumped them with caffeine to stay awake.

Emmett led me to his SUV, and I got in. My coffee was already halfway gone. We would have to make more at my house.

Checking my phone, I saw that it was already 7:15.

"Damn, Aro's gonna be mad that we're late again." I said to Emmett as he started the drive to my apartment.

"Will we be late?"

"If we need to make more coffee, yeah."

"We'll tell him that we lost track of time. He can't be too mad at his best agents." Emmett said.

"Who are they again?" I asked jokingly. He laughed.

We drove in silence for the rest of the way to my apartment. Emmett parked outside and followed me up to the fourth floor. I let us into my apartment to find it just as I had left it yesterday evening, before the gym.

"Can you make the coffee?" I asked Emmett, "I have to change."

"Sure."

I went into my room and my closet, picking out a pale creamy top, a navy blazer, jeans, and knee high boots.

I brushed my hair and applied a little makeup - not enough to make a huge difference. I put on my belt, the one with the holster on it, and stuck my gun in it.

"Ready?" I called as I walked back to the kitchen.

Emmett was lounging in one of my dining table chairs, sipping his coffee and texting or something. Since he had gotten an iPhone, he was always on that thing. I was surprised how well he could use the tiny keyboard, but his large fingers proved to be quite nimble. I always wondered what he was doing. Once, I found him playing Stick Wars 2. I laughed so hard at that.

Emmett put his phone in the inside pocket of his jacket.

"Yeah, unless you want something to eat. I'm fine with coffee."

"I'm gonna grab something, I haven't eaten since yesterday morning." I said, heading toward my fridge.

I grabbed an apple, a yogurt and a granola bar. I probably wouldn't eat all of it, but I liked to keep a little food in my office just in case I had time to eat while doing paperwork or something.

We hurried out of my apartment after that, because we would be late if there was even a little traffic. Aro usually liked us to be at the office at eight, so we had only ten minutes to get there. It was cutting it close.

"I should call the forensic team, ask them if they found anything." I said.

"Put it on speaker."

I scrolled through my contact list and found the forensic team.

"This is the FBI forensics lab, how may I help you?" A woman asked. I knew from personal experience that her name was Jessica Stanley.

"Hi, this is Detective Swan calling about the Morris investigation. I was wondering if you found anything at the crime scene after we left last night."

"Oh, yes, they just turned in the file. The team said that I should be expecting your call."

I heard the sound of papers flip.

"So they scored most of the house, but there really wasn't much to work with, the killer was very clean, other than the blood splatters. There was no blood on the window that had been broken; it was broken with what looks like the tip of a gun. The rug leading up the stairs and a painting from the hallway has been found missing. The painting because it was extremely valuable. We still see no reason for the rug to be taken. There was part of a fingerprint on the book that you found, smeared in the blood, we are running tests on it now to see if we can identify it. We are also comparing the DNA of blood samples that were found around the master bedroom, just to make sure that all of it belongs to members of the Morris family. If you would like, I can messenger this file over to your office."

"That would be great, thanks."

"Alright, I'll get it to your office as soon as possible."

"Bye."

I hung up.

"Well aren't you just the charmer." Emmett said.

"What, I was being friendly."

"Sure." Emmett said.

"Jeez, Emmett. If you were friendlier instead of hitting on every girl you see, single or not, you may get people to messenger files over for you as well." I said, my guard going up. I had thought that I wasn't being as friendly as I could have been.

"Anyway," Emmett said, "it looks like this E chick is really good."

"What makes you think she's a woman? I was under the impression that E was a man."

"Did you see how neat the handwriting was on that note? She's obviously a girl."

"You can't base someone's gender on a note! He could have had someone else write it, or he could just have been really careful writing it."

"E's obviously a chick."

"No, I'm not buying your theory."

"Okay, so why do you think that E's a dude?"

"Ummm…" I wasn't sure how to defend my answer.

"Ha!" Emmett said. I scowled.

"I'll think of it." I said, opening my door, realizing that we were in the FBI parking lot.

We walked into the FBI building and saw that the whole place was in chaos.

"What happened?" I asked, jogging over to one of the nearest employees, a guy I happened to know was named Eric.

"Someone broke in!" He said frantically, "They left a note!"

"Where?"

"Your office!" He didn't seem to be able to say a sentence without an exclamation point at the end of it.

**A/N: I know I can't have any closure to chapters, but I already wrote probably the first four or so chapters of this story, so I don't know where to end. Review, please!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey, sorry, I forgot to put this in before I published the chapter so here it is, sorry if you got the notice twice or something. (I don't know how the notices work.) This is the last of the chapters that I wrote before posting, so I gotta get to work. I might not update too soon. But hopefully you like this and review. Thanks! I don't own twilight, by the way. I had made the rookie mistake of not saying that in the previous chapters... :)**

"Someone broke into your office!" Eric said.

"What?" I exclaimed, jogging over to my office door with Emmett following. Sure enough, there was yellow caution tape across the entry.

Director Aro was there, waiting for me.

"Swan, someone broke into your office. Do you have your badge?"

I checked my pocket.

"Yes, sir."

"Good, well, not good, but it's good that I don't have to fire you for being careless with your badge."

I couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

"Thank you, sir." I said, just to be safe.

"Well, we're not in a good situation at the moment, Swan. Someone stole the file for the Walter case from your office. It's basically all the information that would get us a conviction in court."

**(A/N: The Walter Case is the one that was briefly mentioned at the beginning of chapter one. Bella had just solved it. It is not the same as the Morris case. I was just clarifying.)**

Oh, shit.

"Damn!" Emmett said. I glared at him.

"Emmett!" I said. He should show some respect for the Chief.

"It's fine, Swan. I feel exactly the same way." Aro said.

"I was told that there was a note left."

"Yes, it was addressed to you, but the forensic team had to do a test on it to make sure it wasn't poisoned or anything harmful."

"And?"

"It was just paper and ink."

"Good. May I see the note?"

"Yes." Aro said. He gestured to one forensic person who was holding a box of evidence bags.

"Can Agent Swan see the note left for her?" Aro asked.

"Yes, of course, sir." The frightened employee said, digging through the bags carefully and finally producing one.

"Hey, is that my stapler?" I asked, seeing the familiar item in an evidence bag.

"Yes." The forensic person said, sounding scared.

"Haha." Emmett said.

I threw him a disapproving look.

"Don't worry, Bells, you can use my stapler." He said.

Aro watched our exchange with pursed lips.

"Sorry, sir." I apologized.

Aro nodded, accepting my apology.

I opened the bag and carefully unfolded the note.

I looked down at the bottom of the note to see if it was signed.

"E." I said.

"What?" Emmett asked. I showed him the note.

"E. He broke into my office."

"Wait, what?"

"Read." I demanded because I was curious of what the note said.

The contents of the note:

So, Agent Swan, we meet again:

Yes, I broke into the FBI and into your office. I'm sure by now you know what I took and by now it is just intriguing you about my identity that much more. I have heard that you are very good at your job, as your partner is, but I can assure you: you won't catch me. You may try to, but believe me, there is nothing that you will be able to find in regards to any cases you may get. I doubt that anything I say will make you stop, in fact, it will probably make you search for me harder. I look forward to meeting you.

~E.

"How did he find you so fast?" Emmett asked me.

"I don't know." I said honestly. "I want to call the CSU, ask them to search the Morris house for bugs."

"All right." Emmett said, flipping open his phone.

"Swan, we have to search your office as well as your apartment for bugs." Aro said.

"Alright. And you might as well search Mcarthy's car and apartment as well - I've barely been home since last night."

I Aro nodded.

"Thank you for your cooperation," He said, "we just want to make sure that no one else is killed."

"Of course. I would like to go to the Morris house, search for more clues. I was a bit tired last night." I said to Aro.

"Go right ahead. I will call you with an update. You may as well take Mcarthy with you, he won't be anything but trouble." Aro said.

I smiled and looked at Emmett who seemed to be flirting with a pretty girl with long, black hair from the forensics team.

"Come on." I said, walking over to Emmett and linking my arm through his. I started trying to drag him towards the door.

"What?" Emmett asked, obviously distracted.

"We are leaving. Let's go. You can flirt later."

Emmett grinned at the girl he had been talking to and shrugged apologetically.

"I'll call you." He assured her. She nodded, smiling.

He started walking with me and together we left the building and went to his car.

"Oh, Emmett." I said once we were driving toward the Morris house, shaking my head.

"What?" He asked innocently.

"I think that Deputy Director Aro was a bit unamused with your behavior."

"What did I do?" He asked innocently.

"Oh, never mind. It would just probably do you well to remember to show some respect to your boss."

"Yeah, well if he respected me I would have a higher pay."

I laughed.

"You have enough money, don't you?"

"Yeah, I guess."

I sighed.

"So how the hell do you think E found you so quickly?" Emmett asked, "I mean, you had only been on the case for what, ten hours? Maybe less?"

"I know. That makes me think that it might be someone on our side."

"You mean someone from the FBI?"

"Yeah. Or he could just have bugged everything. I hope he didn't get into my apartment. I mean, it didn't look like he had but I don't know…"

"This person is messing with your head." Emmett said. I remembered that he had thought that E was a girl.

"Uhuh. I wonder what he is trying to get out of it. I mean, he probably wants to scare me enough so that I stop working on the case, but I'm not sure…"

"I wonder if he's watching you."

"I hope not. Usually I can feel it if someone is watching me. If he is, I can't feel it."

"Maybe you should stay at my place again tonight."

"Your place might be bugged as well."

"Yeah, but he knows where you work, so he might know where you live."

"I can't sleep over every time I get a case." I said.

"This is a different type of case. I think this bastard's more dangerous than a lot of the murderers we catch."

I wondered what was going on, then it hit me - Emmett was worried about my safety.

"Alright." I said, realizing defeat.

"I'll come with you to your apartment if you want to pick up some clothes."

"Thanks. Maybe I should just leave my car at the bureau."

"I'll drive you wherever you need to go."

"Thanks, Emmett, I really appreciate it."

"Don't worry 'bout it."

"Hey," I said, realizing something.

"What?" Emmett asked, looking over at me in alarm.

"You admit that E's a guy."

"Well, yeah. Only a guy would be smart enough to break into the FBI. Also, it would be a pretty tall chick." Emmett said.

I smacked his arm.

"Hey, no hitting the driver!" He said.

I laughed.

"You are so sexist, you know that? You think that women are just places to get laid."

He laughed.

"Yeah, kinda."

"At least you admit it."

"And I don't think _all _women are places to get laid." He said, eyeing me. "But then again, you're Bella."

"Touché. But really, I am glad that you don't think of me that way. It would make sharing a bed awkward."

"Ha! I know better than to sleep with my best friend. That is just a recipe for disaster."

"Yeah..." I trailed off, my thoughts going back to a different time in my life. I was just a kid, living in a small town with my dad when I fell in love with my best friend. And we slept together and we schemed together and we were going to go to college together and get married and have a life. Jacob had loved me. He had given himself to me. And I had given myself to him. But he had changed. And I had changed. And I was scared to accept it. I missed Jacob. I missed everything about him. The shield that I put up against every thought about him came crashing down. This happened sometimes. I knew that the only way to deal with it was to ride it out and let myself feel.

I pulled my knees up to my chest on the seat and put my head down on my knees. Sometimes I cried when I thought about Jake.

"You okay?" Emmett asked after a few minutes. He didn't know the entire story about Jake, though he did know that there had been someone before.

I didn't answer. I knew that my voice might break if I did.

Emmett let me sit in peace for a while. He kept driving. Suddenly, I felt the car stop under me.

"Come on, Bells." He said, putting a hand on my shoulder. _Bells_. The nickname that my dad had for me and that Jake sometimes used. The tears came as I went back to the memories that I had tried so hard to keep out. It was at these times, the times where I broke down, missing him and the familiarity of what we had.

I knew I was here, curled up in Emmett's car, with Emmett stroking my hair. But I was also there, in La Push, on the familiar beach. I was with Jacob, just holding hands and walking and talking about everything and nothing and solving the world's problems.

I missed Jake. It was a hollow, aching feeling in my chest that grew when I let it until it was so painful I wanted to scream and cry and thrash around on the ground.

"Bella, honey." Emmett said, trying to comfort me as my body shook with sobs.

I heard him undo my seat-belt and then felt him pull me over, across the center divider, into his lap. He was so big and I was so small and he just held me while I let myself cry over what I missed and what I had so foolishly lost.

Eventually, I put myself back together.

First I stopped crying, then I dried my tears on my sleeves, then I finally looked up.

Emmett was watching me with sad eyes, though there was a little curiousity in them. I had had one other breakdown over Jake before in Emmett's presence, though that one was shorter.

I knew that I owed Emmett an apology, and an explanation. I was just trying to figure out how I was going to be able to tell him without sobbing.

"Thank you." I said quietly.

"It's okay."

"I think I owe you an explanation."

"You don't have to tell me anything."

"I'm gonna need some wine. And some tissues. It's kind of a long story." I said. But thinking back, "But actually, it's not. It's just hard." I said quietly, moving to get back over on my side of the car.

He nodded.

"His name was Jake." I said. Then, since I had started it, I figured I might as well finish the story, even without the wine.

"We were best friends, like you and I are. We would sleep over, in the same bed, share stories, joke around, pretend to insult each other. He was my best friend. We knew each other's family and history and plans for the future. We would walk on the beach together, just talking and joking, and being there for each other. But then one day he kissed me. And I kissed him back.

We had been building up to it, apparently. Everyone except us already knew that we were in love. And then we knew, too. We were ecstatic. We thought we were the invincible couple - the perfect fairytale pair. Suddenly we were each other's future. We still shared the same bed, but we were falling asleep naked together. We were going to go to the same college and get married and be Bella and Jake, as we always had been." I swallowed, then sighed and looked up from my hands to Emmett's face. He was watching me intently.

"We changed though. Both of us, I guess. Something happened. I'm not sure what it was, but I think I felt it first. Sometimes I think that suddenly I was just too scared. Too scared to love and live like that. I'm afraid that I don't know how to. And I'm not brave enough to."

I took a deep breath and wiped my eyes.

"I broke it off. I said I was leaving Forks and that I needed space and time to grow up. But I wish I hadn't. I miss him so much."

Emmett was still watching me.

"You still love him." He said.

"Yes." I whispered. I felt a single tear race down my cheek and I wiped it away with one finger.

We sat in silence for a while.

"I know that you think that you don't know how to love that much. But you do know how. I can see it. You still love him. And though you don't know him right now, anymore, I know that you love me. And you love me a lot. I can tell. Not the same type of love that you had with him, but you know how, Bella. I can tell." Emmett said. It was one of the most sensitive things I had heard him say.

"Thank you." I whispered.

We sat in silence a while more until Emmett sighed.

"Well, what do you want to do? I mean, we're about twenty minutes from the Morris scene. We can either go there, or go back to my place, or go get some food or something."

I thought about this.

"We should probably keep going to the Morris case. I mean, we are trying to solve a murder here."

"That's my girl." He said, taking my hand and squeezing it before starting the car.

**A/N: Hope you like it. Please review! I may not update for a while so enjoy! **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Okay, so here is a quick little note:**

**I know that I haven't updated in a while. **

**Please please please bare with me.**

**I have had very little time to write because of school. So little time in fact that I've only had time to work on one story and this is my "real" story with original characters. **

**So I'm really really sorry for not updating. I promise I will next weekend. **

**I have so much to do, with the end of school. It's all piling up and I have so many huge tests to study for.**

**It's amazing I even have time to write this. **

**I know, this is how stressed and how little time I have right now. **

**It is pathetic. **

**But I promise you that come the summer time (my summer starts june 10.) I will update every other day. **

**You have it in writing. **

**So thank you so so so so so (X100000) much for reading this and baring with me for both of my fanfiction stories. **

**XOXO**

**See you in a week,**

**MintLollipop01**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: So this is a little mini chapter. I'll see you on June 10th :)**

We drove in silence the rest of the way to the crime scene. I was still thinking about Jake, and from the look on Emmett's face, he was too. I felt kind of bad - I'd given him a lot to chew on and that was the second, or maybe third, time I had broken down in the past two days. I know that it must have been beyond awkward for him, I mean, men never really do so well on the comforting crying women stuff.

When we got to the crime scene, I could already see that the forensic team was back, this time turning the house upside down in search of bugs. We got out of the car and I walked over to one of the people on the team who was fiddling with a part of the window.

"Hi, I'm Detective Swan, I was wondering if you found any bugs."

"Yes, I was told you would be coming here. So far we have found nothing what-so-ever that would enable the thief to hear you. We would also like your permission to search Detective Mcarthy's home and yours, in addition to your cars. We must also check your cell phones."

"Of course." Emmett and I said at the same time.

"Do you need my phone and the key to my apartment right now?" I asked.

The woman nodded.

"We will get them back to you shortly. Of course, we can wait until you are home until we search your apartment."

"No, you can go ahead."

I gave her my phone and then the key to my apartment, along with the address. Emmett did the same thing.

"Thank you so much for your cooperating, Detectives."

"Sure. Could you do my car right now?"

"Of course."

Emmett and I wandered around the house for a while as the forensic team checked his car for bugs.

When they found it clean, Emmett and I decided to go get lunch, then go back to the office.

The rest of the day passed in a blur. We were delivered our phone and keys around five o'clock, told that everything was all clean. This just managed to confuse us more, so Emmett and I sat and thought about all the loopholes there could be until around six o'clock and it was time for us to leave.

"Can I stay at your place again?" I asked Emmett as we walked out of the office.

"Sure."

Emmett took me back to my apartment so that I could get some clothes. My apartment was a mess, apparently forensics didn't know how to put things back when they were done.

Emmett put the couch back over and lounged in it while I grabbed an overnight bag and picked up some of the clothes that were left on the floor

(my drawers and closet had been emptied) and stuffed the clothes for tomorrow inside and my pajamas with my toothbrush, hairbrush, shampoo, towel, razor and phone charger.

Emmett and I headed back to his place, where we found that his apartment was about the same amount of mess that mine was.

I helped him put his apartment back together while we waited for the pizza that Emmett had ordered to come.

"Hey, if you wanna go clubbing or something, feel free. Just don't bring your one nighter home cause I don't do threesomes."

We were sitting on his couch, watching the news of the death of the Morris family while eating pizza and drinking beers.

Emmett laughed.

"Nah, I'm fine. I'll go clubbing when this case is over."

"Thanks." I said, overcome by a massive yawn.

"No problem."

We went to bed around ten o'clock. Before Emmett turned out the light, he turned to me.

"Look, Bella, about what you told me today in the car, I think that you're wrong. You obviously can love. And I hate that you think you can't."

I swallowed down the lump in my throat.

"Thank you, Emmett."

"No problem, Bells."

I smiled, then lay back on the pillows and fell asleep a few minutes after Emmett turned the light out.

**A/N: Please review! I love love love to hear from you. :) **


End file.
